Ink-jet head with ink blockage prevention device

ABSTRACT

An inkjet head includes a plurality of nozzles, a plurality of pressure chambers corresponding to the nozzles and connected to the nozzles, a common ink chamber for supplying ink to the pressure chambers, a supply passage for supplying ink to the common ink chamber, a plurality of connection passages corresponding to the respective pressure chambers, one ends of which are connected to the common ink chamber and the other ends of which are connected to the respective pressure chambers, a first member forming the common ink chamber, and a second member connected to the first member and having openings of the connection passages aligned in a surface at a side of the first member. A projection of an opening positioned at a most downstream end in an ink flowing direction from the supply passage in the common ink chamber, on the first member in a connecting direction straddles a contour of the common ink chamber.

This is a Division of application Ser. No. 10/430,313 filed May 7, 2003.The entire disclosure of the prior application is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a structure of an ink-jet head forforming an image by ejecting minute ink droplets onto a printingsurface.

2. Description of Related Art

Conventionally, as a recording apparatus which has a simple structureand enables high speed and high quality printing, an ink-jet systemrecording apparatus is well known.

As a ink-jet head of the ink-jet system recording apparatus, forexample, an ink-jet head of a flat plate lamination structure is knownwhich includes a plurality of nozzles for ejecting ink onto a recordingmedium such as a paper, a plurality of pressure chambers providedcorrespondingly to the respective nozzles and connected to the nozzles,a common ink chamber for distributing and supplying ink to the pressurechambers through connection passages, and a supply passage for supplyingthe ink to the common ink chamber.

In this structure, the ink supplied to the common ink chamber passesthrough the respective connection passages and is distributed to therespective pressure chambers. When ejection energy is given in therespective pressure chambers by a suitable actuator, the ink is ejectedfrom the corresponding nozzles.

Here, for example, at the time of exchange of an ink cartridge, when airbubbles are mixed into the ink, or air having entered from the inkcartridge or the wall surface of a supply passage grows into airbubbles, and the air bubbles enter the pressure chambers or the nozzles,non-ejection of the ink is caused. Thus, a technique is known in which apurge mechanism for removing air bubbles by forcibly sucking ink in theinside of the ink-jet head from a nozzle side by a pump or the like isprovided in the ink-jet recording apparatus.

The ink supplied from the ink cartridge goes via the supply passage toflow through the inside of the common ink chamber, passes through therespective connection passages, and is distributed to the pressurechambers. At this time, air bubbles are carried on the flow of the inkand are apt to collect at the end of the common ink chamber at the mostdownstream side. Besides, the end of the common ink chamber at the mostdownstream side is a place where stagnation of the ink is apt to occur,and the air bubbles generated in the ink are apt to collect, andgradually grow to be apt to impede the flow of the ink. Accordingly, asa nozzle becomes close to the end, a trouble (missing dot) ofnon-ejection of ink is apt to occur.

As described above, since the ink stagnates at the end of the common inkchamber at the most downstream side, the removal of the air bubbles hasbeen difficult even by the foregoing purge mechanism. Accordingly, therehas been a problem that it becomes necessary to frequently repeat thepurge operation by the purge mechanism, a large amount of ink iswastefully consumed, and the running cost rises.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the invention is to provide an ink-jet head in which airbubbles are not easily collected in ink at a connection portion betweena common ink chamber and a connection passage, and even if they arecollected, they can be easily discharged by a purge mechanism.

Another object of the invention is to provide an ink-jet head in whicheven if air bubbles are collected in a common ink chamber, the flow ofink is hard to block, and a trouble such as occurrence of a missing dotcan be avoided.

According to a first aspect of the invention, an ink-jet head comprisesa plurality of nozzles for ejecting ink, a plurality of pressurechambers provided correspondingly to the respective nozzles andconnected to the nozzles, a common ink chamber for distributing andsupplying ink to the pressure chambers, a supply passage for supplyingthe ink to the common ink chamber, a plurality of connection passagesprovided correspondingly to the respective pressure chambers, one endsof which are connected to the common ink chamber and the other ends ofwhich are connected to the respective pressure chambers, a first memberforming the common ink chamber, and a second member connected to thefirst member and having openings of the connection passages formed to bealigned in a surface at a side of the first member, wherein a projectionof an opening among the openings, which is positioned at a mostdownstream end in a flowing direction of the ink from the supply passagein the common ink chamber, on the first member in a connecting directionstraddles a contour of the common ink chamber of the first member at themost downstream end.

By this, since the opening is positioned so as to straddle the contourof the common ink chamber at the most downstream end, stagnation of inkdoes not occur at the end of the common ink chamber at the mostdownstream side. Thus, it becomes easy to discharge air bubbles in theinside of the common ink chamber.

According to a second aspect of the invention, an ink-jet head comprisesa plurality of nozzles for ejecting ink, a plurality of pressurechambers provided correspondingly to the respective nozzles andconnected to the nozzles, a common ink chamber for distributing andsupplying ink to the pressure chambers, a supply passage for supplyingthe ink to the common ink chamber, a plurality of connection passagesprovided correspondingly to the respective pressure chambers, one endsof which are connected to the common ink chamber and the other ends ofwhich are connected to the respective pressure chambers, wherein amongthe openings, an opening positioned at a most downstream end in aflowing direction of the ink from the supply passage in the common inkchamber is positioned to be spaced apart from an end of the common inkchamber at the most downstream side by at least one pitch of alignmentintervals of the openings.

By this, air bubbles which could not be removed at the time of a purgeoperation can be collected in a portion between the end of the commonink chamber at the most downstream side and the opening. Accordingly, itis possible to prevent non-ejection of ink caused when air bubbles,which could not be removed immediately after the purge, close theopening. As a result, an interval of purge operations can be lengthened,and the amount of ink wastefully discharged by the purge operation canbe decreased.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other and further objects, features and advantages of the invention willappear more fully from the following description taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a color ink-jet printerto which an ink-jet head of an embodiment of the invention is applied;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a printer head;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state where the printer head isupside down;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the printer head;

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of an ink-jet head of a firstembodiment;

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view showing a laminate structure of apassage unit;

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view showing a VII-VII section of FIG.6;

FIG. 8 is a view of a VIII-VIII section of FIG. 5;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged sectional view showing the details of a passagestructure in a passage unit;

FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view showing a laminate structure ofan actuator;

FIG. 11 is an exploded perspective view showing a detailed structure ofa downstream side portion of a common ink chamber and ink supply holesin the passage unit;

FIG. 12 is a partial perspective view showing the detailed structure ofthe downstream side portion of the common ink chamber and the ink supplyholes in the passage unit;

FIG. 13A is a plan view showing a relation between the common inkchamber and openings of the ink supply holes in the passage unit;

FIG. 13B is a sectional view taken along line b-b of FIG. 13A;

FIG. 14 is a plan view of another example in which an opening area of anopening at the most downstream side is enlarged;

FIG. 15 is a plan view of another example in which all openings aredisposed to overlap with a wall part of a common ink chamber;

FIG. 16 is a plan view of another example in which an opening at themost downstream side is disposed to be spaced apart from the end of thecommon ink chamber at the most downstream side;

FIG. 17 is an exploded perspective view showing a laminate structure ofa passage unit in an ink-jet head of a second embodiment;

FIG. 18 is an exploded perspective view showing a section taken alongline XVIII-XVIII of FIG. 17; and

FIG. 19 is a sectional view showing a structure of a passage of theink-jet head of the second embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In FIG. 1, four piezoelectric ink-jet heads 6 in total provided forrespective colors in order to eject color inks of four colors (forexample, cyan, magenta, yellow and black) are fixed to a main body frame68 of a printer head 63 of a color ink-jet printer 100. Further, fourink cartridges 61 in which the color inks are respectively filled aredetachably attached to the main body frame 68. This main body frame 68is fixed to a carriage 64 which is reciprocated in a linear direction bya driving mechanism 65. A platen roller 66 for feeding a sheet of paper62 is disposed so that its rotation axial line becomes parallel with areciprocating movement direction of the carriage 64, and is opposite tothe ink-jet head 6.

The carriage 64 is slidably supported by a guide shaft 71 and a guideplate 72 which are disposed to be parallel with the rotation axial lineof the platen roller 66. Pulleys 73 and 74 are supported in thevicinities of both end parts of the guide shaft 71, and an endless belt75 is stretched between the pulleys 73 and 74. The carriage 64 is fixedto this endless belt 75. The one pulley 73 is fixed to a driving shaftof a motor 76. The driving mechanism 65 is constituted by the motor 76,the pulleys 73 and 74, and the endless belt 75.

In this structure, when the one pulley 73 is forwardly and reverselyrotated by the driving of the motor 76, in accordance with that, thecarriage 64 is reciprocated in the linear direction along the guideshaft 71 and the guide plate 72. By this, the reciprocating movement ofthe printer head 63 in a main scanning direction is realized.

The sheet of paper 62 is fed from a paper supply cassette (not shown)provided at the side of the ink-jet printer 100, is sent in a subscanning direction through a space between the ink-jet head 6 and theplaten roller 66, and is ejected after a desired image is formed by inkwhich is ejected from the ink-jet head 6. Incidentally, in FIG. 1, theillustration of a paper feeding mechanism of the sheet of paper 62 and apaper ejecting mechanism thereof is omitted.

A purge mechanism 67 shown in FIG. 1 is for forcibly sucking andremoving a poor ink including air bubbles and dust collecting in theinside of the ink-jet head 6.

This purge mechanism 67 is provided at the side of the platen roller 66.Specifically, the purge mechanism 67 is disposed at a position where itfaces the ink-jet head 6 when the printer head 63 reaches a resetposition by the driving mechanism 65.

The purge mechanism 67 includes a purge cap 81, and this purge cap 81 isdesigned to be brought into close contact with the lower surface of theink-jet head 6 so as to cover a plurality of nozzles (the details willbe described later) provided at the lower surface of the ink-jet head 6.

In this structure, when the printer head 63 is in the reset position, astate is produced in which the nozzles of the ink-jet head 6 provided tothis carriage 64 are covered with the purge cap 81, and a cam 83 isdriven in this state, so that the inside of the purge cap 81 is made tohave a negative pressure by a pump 82. By doing so, the poor inkincluding the air bubbles or the like collected in the inside of theink-jet head 6 is sucked through the nozzles and is discarded into awaste ink reservoir 84, so that the recovery of the ink-jet head 6 isperformed.

By this purge mechanism 67, at the time of initial introduction of inkinto the ink-jet head 6 (at the time of start of use of the ink-jetprinter 100), air in the inside of the ink-jet head 6 is sucked andremoved, and a passage in the inside of the ink-jet head 6 can be filledwith ink. Besides, even if there occurs such a state that air bubblesgrow in the passage of the inside of the ink-jet head 6 as a result oflong use and the ink-jet head 6 can not eject ink, the ink-jet head 6can be returned to a state where printing can be normally performed bycarrying out the purge operation with the purge mechanism 67.

Incidentally, a cap 85 shown in FIG. 1 is for preventing drying of inkby covering the many nozzles of the ink-jet head 6 of the printer head63 when printing is ended and the printer head 63 is returned to thereset position.

Next, the structure of the printer head 63 will be described. As shownin FIG. 1, the printer head 63 is mounted on the carriage 64 running inthe direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the sheet ofpaper 62. As shown in FIG. 2, the main body frame 68 of the printer head63 is formed to be substantially a box shape having a bottom wall 68 a,a front wall 68 b and a back wall 68 c, and an open upper surface. Acartage mounting part is formed in the box-shaped portion of the mainbody frame 68, and the four-color ink cartridges 61 as an ink supplysource can be detachably attached from the open side (above).

As shown in FIG. 2, four ink supply passages 4 a to 4 d are provided onthe upper surface of the bottom wall 68 a of the main body frame 68 andat positions close to the front wall 68 b. The respective ink supplypassages 4 a to 4 d can be connected to ink release parts (not shown) ofthe respective ink cartridges 61, and communicate with the lower side ofthe bottom wall 68 a. Packings (not shown) made of rubber, which can bebrought into close contact with the ink release parts of the respectiveink cartridges 61, are disposed on the upper surface (cartridge mountingpart) of the bottom wall 68 a of the main body frame 68.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a head holding part 5 is formed on the lowersurface side of the bottom wall 68 a of the main body frame 68. As shownin FIG. 4, in the head holding part 5, four support parts 8 are formedto be step-shaped, and the four ink-jet heads 6 corresponding to therespective ink cartridges 61 are fixed to the respective support parts8. A plurality of spaces 9 are formed in each of the support parts 8 tovertically pass through. The spaces 9 are for fixing the ink-jet head 6to the support part 8 by an ultraviolet ray curing adhesive.

Further, a head cover 49 is put to cover the four ink-jet heads 6together with the head holding part 5. The head cover 49 includesopenings 49 a, and in the state where it is attached to the ink-jetheads 6, as shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of nozzles 35 of the respectiveink-jet heads 6 are exposed through the openings 49 a.

As shown in FIG. 3, a substantially rectangular circuit substrate 45 isdisposed on the wall surface (wall surface at the side opposite to thecarriage 64 in FIG. 1) of the back wall 68 c of the main body frame 68,so that its plate surface becomes parallel to the back wall 68 c. Asshown in FIG. 4, the respective ink-jet heads 6 are connected to thecircuit substrate 45 through flexible flat cables 40.

As shown in FIG. 4, communicating parts 46 a to 46 d communicating withthe ink cartridges 61 through the ink supply passages 4 a to 4 d (FIG.2) are provided at one ends of the respective support parts 8. Fittinggrooves 48 are concavely provided around the outer peripheries of therespective communicating parts 46 a to 46 d. Packings 47 made of rubberor the like are respectively inserted in the fitting grooves 48. Whenthe ink-jet heads 6 are bonded and fixed to the support parts 8, the tipends of the packings 47 are pressed to the outer peripheries of openingsof ink supply passages 39 of the ink jet heads 6 described later (seeFIG. 5). By this, connection portions for connecting the communicatingparts 46 a to 46 d and the ink supply passages 39 of the respectiveink-jet heads 6 are sealed so that an ink leak does not occur.

First Embodiment

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an ink-jet head 6 according to a firstembodiment. The ink-jet head 6 includes a rectangular passage unit 10having a structure in which thin flat plates are laminated. A plate-typepiezoelectric actuator (hereinafter referred to as an “actuator”) 20 isbonded and laminated to the passage unit 10 through an adhesive or anadhesive sheet. Further, the flexible flat cable 40 for electricalconnection to the circuit substrate 45 is overlapped with and is bondedto the upper surface of the actuator 20 through an adhesive. Manynozzles 35 are opened at the lower surface side (the side opposite tothe platen roller 66) of the passage unit 10, and ink is ejecteddownward from the respective nozzles 35.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the passage unit 10, and FIG.7 is an exploded enlarged perspective view (section in a VII-VIIdirection of FIG. 6) of the passage unit 10. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7,the passage unit 10 has a structure in which six thin metal plates intotal, that is, a nozzle plate 11, a damper plate 12, two manifoldplates 13X and 13Y, a spacer plate 14, and a base plate 15 arerespectively overlapped and bonded through adhesives and are laminated.

In this embodiment, these flat plates 11 to 15 are made of 42% nickelalloy. All of the flat plates 11 to 15 have slightly slender rectangles,and have thicknesses of about 50 μm to 150 μm.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the many ink ejecting nozzles 35 havingminute diameters (in this embodiment, about 25 μm) are formed in thenozzle plate 11. The nozzles 35 are arranged in two staggered rows atminute intervals (pitch P shown in FIG. 7) along center lines 11 a and11 b of the nozzle plate 11.

As shown in FIG. 7, a plurality of pressure chambers 36, 36 . . . aredisposed in two rows in a staggered arrangement along the longitudinaldirection of the base plate 15. Each of the pressure chambers 36 isformed to be slender so that its longitudinal direction is orthogonal tothe longitudinal direction of the base plate 15. Besides, as shown inFIGS. 7 to 9, throttle parts 36 d connected to the respective pressurechambers 36 and ink introduction holes 36 b connected to the throttleparts 36 d are concavely provided at the side of the base plate 15facing the spacer plate 14.

The passage cross-sectional area (cross-sectional area in the directionorthogonal to the ink flow direction) of each of the throttle parts 36 dis smaller than the passage cross-sectional area of each of the pressurechambers 36. This is for increasing the passage resistance by decreasingthe cross-sectional area of the throttle part 36 d. That is, a pressurewave generated in the pressure chamber 36 by the driving of anafter-mentioned actuator 20 goes toward the nozzle 35, while itsreflected wave goes toward the common ink chamber 7. This flow of inkreturning from the pressure chamber 36 to the common ink chamber 7 isrestricted by the throttle part 36 d, so that the pressure wave from thepressure chamber 36 is efficiently made to go toward the nozzle 35, andthe ejection speed of ink from the nozzle 35 is improved.

Ink supply holes 38 are bored in the areas of the spacer plate 14 atboth sides in the lateral direction correspondingly to the inkintroduction holes 36 b. Besides, the after-mentioned common inkchambers 7 and 7 are formed in the manifold plates 13X and 13Y. As shownin FIG. 9 or the like, the respective ink introduction holes 36 b of thebase plate 15 communicate with the common ink chambers 7 through the inksupply holes 38.

Besides, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, minute diameter through holes 37 arebored in a staggered arrangement in the spacer plate 14, the twomanifold plates 13X and 13Y, and the damper plate 12. As shown in FIG. 8or the like, one ends 36 a of the respective pressure chambers 36communicate with the foregoing nozzles 35 in the nozzle plate 11 throughthe through holes 37.

As shown in FIG. 7, two ink chamber half parts 13 a and 13 a are formedto pass through the manifold plate 13X of the two manifold plates (13X,13Y) closer to the spacer plate 14. On the other hand, in the manifoldplate 13Y at the side of the nozzle plate 11, two ink chamber half parts13 b and 13 b are concavely provided to open only toward the manifoldplate 13X of the other side.

In this structure, three plates in total, that is, the two manifoldplates 13X and 13Y and the spacer plate 14 are laminated, so that thecorresponding upper and lower ink chamber half parts 13 a and 13 b aremutually connected, and one at each of both sides of the row of thethrough holes 37, that is, the two common ink chambers 7 and 7 in totalare formed as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9.

As shown in FIG. 6, the common ink chambers 7 and 7 are formed to beslender, and are provided at both sides of the row of the through holes37 to be substantially parallel to the row. Besides, the common inkchambers 7 and 7 are positioned on a plane parallel to a plane formed ofthe plurality of pressure chambers 36 in the base plate 15, and arepositioned closer to the nozzle plate 11 than the pressure chambers 36.

Incidentally, the reason why the two common ink chambers 7 and 7 areprovided at both the sides of the row of the through holes 37 is thatthey are made to correspond to the pressure chambers 36 and the nozzles35 disposed in the two rows. That is, the one common ink chamber 7communicates with the nozzles 35 and the pressure chambers 36 of the onerow in the pressure chambers 36 of the two rows through the ink supplyholes 38 of the spacer plate 14, and similarly, the other common inkchamber 7 communicates with the nozzles 35 and the pressure chambers 36of the other row through the ink supply holes 38.

By constructing the ink-jet head 6 as stated above, it becomes possibleto use a print mode in which different color inks are supplied to thetwo common ink chambers 7 and 7 and printing of two colors is performedby the one ink-jet head 6, and the versatility of the ink-jet head 6 israised to reduce the kinds of parts. However, in this embodiment, aprint mode is adopted in which same color inks are supplied to both thecommon ink chambers 7 and 7, and single color high resolution printingis performed by the two rows of nozzles 35.

As shown in FIG. 7, damper grooves 12 c and 12 c are concavely providedin the damper plate 12 positioned immediately under the manifold plates13X and 13Y. The damper grooves 12 c and 12 c are formed to be open onlytoward the side of the manifold plate 13Y, and the positions and shapesare made to coincident with those of the common ink chambers 7 and 7.

In this structure, when the manifold plates 13X and 13Y and the damperplate 12 are connected, the damper grooves 12 c are concavely positionedat portions (damper parts 42) where the ink chamber half parts 13 b ofthe manifold plate 13Y are provided. Here, since the manifold plate 13Yis made of a metal material (in this embodiment, 42% nickel alloy) whichcan be elastically deformed, the damper part 42 can be freely vibratedtoward the side of the common ink chamber 7 and the side of the dampergroove 12 c.

From the above structure, even if the pressure variation occurring inthe pressure chamber 36 at the time of ink ejection is propagated to thecommon ink chamber 7, the damper part 42 is elastically deformed tovibrate, so that the pressure variation can be absorbed and attenuated(damper function), and it is possible to prevent crosstalk in which thepressure variation is propagated to the other pressure chambers 36.

As shown in FIG. 6, two supply holes 39 a and 39 a are bored in the baseplate 15, and also in the spacer plate 14, supply holes 39 b and 39 bare similarly bored. The corresponding supply holes 39 a and 39 b aremutually connected by coupling the base plate 15 and the spacer plate14, and ink supply passages 39 and 39 corresponding to the two commonink chambers 7 and 7 are formed.

From a demand for miniaturization of the ink-jet head 6, the ink supplypassages 39 and 39 are bored at positions near the ends of the rows ofthe plurality of pressure chambers 36, 36 . . . , and the two ink supplypassages 39 and 39 are disposed to be mutually close to each other.Not-shown filters are provided in the openings of the ink supplypassages 39 and protect so that even if a foreign substance or the likeis mixed in the ink at the time of attachment/detachment of the inkcartridge 61 to/from the cartridge mount part, the foreign substance orthe like does not enter the common ink chambers 7.

By the above structure of the passage unit 10, the ink flowing in thecommon ink chambers 7 and 7 from the ink supply passages 39 and 39 goesvia the ink supply holes 38 and the ink introduction holes 36 b, passesthrough the throttle parts 36 d and is distributed to the respectivepressure chambers 36. Then, the ink in the respective pressure chambers36 goes from the one ends 36 a via the respective through holes 37, 37 .. . to the corresponding nozzles 35 and is ejected.

In this embodiment, the total passage including the ink supply hole 38,the ink introduction hole 36 b, and the throttle part 36 d correspondsto the connection passage of the invention. This connection passage isprovided for each of the nozzles 35 (each of the pressure chambers 36),its one end is connected to the common ink chamber 7, and the other endis connected to the pressure chamber 36.

FIG. 10 is an exploded enlarged view of an actuator 20. As shown inFIGS. 8 to 10, the actuator 20 has a structure in which two kinds ofpiezoelectric sheets 21 and 22 and one insulating sheet 23 arelaminated. In this embodiment, the piezoelectric sheets 21 and 22 aremade of ceramic material of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) havingferroelectricity.

As shown in FIG. 10, a plurality of thin driving electrodes 24corresponding to the respective pressure chambers 36 in the passage unit10 are provided in a staggered arrangement on the upper surface of theone piezoelectric sheet 21. One ends 24 a of the respective drivingelectrodes 24 are formed to be exposed at both side surfaces orthogonalto front and back surfaces 20 a and 20 b of the actuator 20.

A common electrode 25 common to the plurality of pressure chambers 36 isprovided on the upper surface of the other piezoelectric sheet 22.Similarly to the one ends 24 a of the respective driving electrodes 24,one ends 25 a of the common electrode 25 are also formed to be exposedat both sides. The piezoelectric sheets 21 and 22 are not limited to thestructure in which they are alternately laminated one by one as shown inthe drawing, and a plurality of sheets may be alternately laminated.Respective regions of the piezoelectric sheets 21 and 22 sandwichedbetween the respective driving electrodes 24 and the common electrode 25become pressure generating parts corresponding to the respectivepressure chambers 36.

Surface electrodes 26 corresponding to the respective driving electrodes24 and surface electrodes 27 corresponding to the common electrode 25are provided side by side along both sides on the upper surface of theuppermost insulating sheet 23.

Besides, at both sides, first recessed grooves 30 are provided at theone ends 24 a of the respective driving electrodes 24 to extend in thelaminate direction, and second recessed grooves 31 are provided at theone ends 25 a of the common electrode 25 to extend in the laminatedirection. As shown in FIG. 8, side electrodes 32 for electricallyconnecting the respective driving electrodes 24 and the respectivesurface electrodes 26 are formed in the respective first recessedgrooves 30, and side electrodes 33 for electrically connecting thecommon electrode 25 and the surface electrodes 27 are formed in thesecond recessed grooves 31. Incidentally, electrodes 28 and 29 of FIG.10 are waste pattern electrodes.

While the passage unit 10 and the actuator 20 having the abovestructures are aligned to make the respective pressure chambers 36 inthe passage unit 10 correspond to the driving electrodes 24 in theactuator 20, they are laminated as shown in FIG. 5. Besides, on theupper surface 20 a in the actuator 20, various wiring patterns (notshown) in the flexible flat cables 40 are electrically connected to therespective surface electrodes 26 and 27.

Then, when a voltage is applied between an arbitrary driving electrode24 selected from the plurality of driving electrodes 24 of the actuator20 and the common electrode 25 in the ink-jet head 6, a strain in thelamination direction by piezoelectricity occurs in the piezoelectricsheet 22 at the portion of the driving electrode 24 to which the voltageis applied (that is, the pressure generation part), and the volume ofthe pressure chamber 36 is reduced. In this way, ejection energy isgiven to the ink in the pressure chamber 36, the ink is ejected in theshape of a droplet from the nozzle 35, and predetermined printing isperformed on the sheet of paper 62. By driving the carriage 64 (FIG. 1),while the printer head 63 is reciprocated in the main scanning directionand the sheet of paper 62 is intermittently sent in the sub scanningdirection, the ink is ejected from the ink-jet head 6 as describedabove, so that a desired image is formed on the sheet of paper 62.

In the ink-jet head 6 of this embodiment as described above, the inkflows in the common ink chambers 7 and 7 from the ink supply passages 39and 39, goes via the ink supply holes 38 and the ink introduction holes36 b, passes through the throttle parts 36 d and is distributed to therespective pressure chambers 36. Then, the ink in the respectivepressure chambers 36 is given the ejection pressure by the driving ofthe actuator 20, and goes from the one ends 36 a via the respectivethrough holes 37, 37, . . . to the corresponding nozzles 35 and isejected.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the spacer plate (second member) 14 islaminated to be adjacent (that is, without intervention of another flatplate) to the manifold plates (first member) 13X and 13Y. The pluralityof ink supply holes 38 of the spacer plate 14 are provided and arealigned to be parallel to the row of the through holes 37. As shown inFIGS. 9, 11, 12 and 13B, in the respective ink supply holes 38, openings38 a are formed in the surface of the spacer plate 14 at the side of themanifold plates 13X and 13Y.

The openings 38 a correspond to the openings, at the side of the commonink chamber 7, of the connection passages for connecting the common inkchamber 7 and the pressure chambers 36. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, theink supply holes 38 are arranged to correspond to the respective nozzles35 through the pressure chambers 36, and the arrangement pitch thereof(arrangement pitch of the openings 38 a) is made equal to thearrangement pitch P of the nozzles 35 (see FIG. 7).

As shown in FIGS. 12 and 13A, the plurality of openings 38 a arearranged substantially along the longitudinal direction of the commonink chamber 7. In other words, the common ink chamber 7 is extended inthe alignment direction of the openings 38 a. The ink supplied from theink cartridge 61 to the common ink chamber 7 branches out and isintroduced into the ink supply holes 38 through the openings 38 a asindicated by thick arrows of FIG. 13, and flows substantially along thealignment direction of the openings 38 a from one end side (side of theink supply passage 39) of the common ink chamber 7 to the other endside.

Incidentally, in the drawings, among the plurality of openings 38 a, anopening positioned at the most downstream end (one end in the alignmentdirection of the openings 38 a) in the flowing direction of the ink fromthe ink supply passage 39 in the common ink chamber 7 is particularlydenoted by a symbol 38 x.

Then, in this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 12, 13A and 13B, a mostdownstream side end 7 a of a wall part of the manifold plates 13X and13Y forming the common ink chamber 7 is positioned at a portion of theopening 38 x positioned at the most downstream side of the ink flow inthe common ink chamber 7. That is, as shown in FIG. 13A or the like, aprojection of the opening 38 x, which is positioned at the mostdownstream end, on the manifold plates 13X and 13Y in the platethickness direction (a projection in the direction of connecting thespacer plate 14 and the manifold plates 13X and 13Y) straddles thecontour of the common ink chamber 7 of the manifold plates 13X and 13Yat the most downstream end.

Here, when the ink cartridges 61 are exchanged, in order to introducethe ink from the new ink cartridges 61 to the ink-jet heads 6, thesuction operation by the purge mechanism 67 is performed. At this time,when the ink cartridges 61 are connected to the ink supply passages 4 ato 4 d (FIG. 2), air having entered the connection portions is mixed inthe ink, passes through not-shown filters of the ink supply passages 39and 39 to become minute air bubbles, and enters the common ink chambers7 and 7. Most of the air bubbles are discharged from the nozzles 35 viathe pressure chambers 36 from the ink supply holes 38 by the suctionoperation of the purge mechanism 67. However, even by the purgeoperation of the purge mechanism 67, it is difficult to completelydischarge the air bubbles.

Besides, also in a normal use state, with the lapse of time, it isinevitable that air having entered from the ink cartridge 61 or the wallsurface of the supply passage grows into air bubbles, and together withthe air bubbles remaining at the time of introduction, they are carriedon the flow of the ink (the flow at the time of the purge operation andprinting operation), and are apt to collect in the vicinity of the end 7a of the common ink chamber 7 at the most downstream side.

However, in this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 12, 13A and 13B, theprojection of the opening 38 x, which is positioned at the mostdownstream end, on the manifold plates 13X and 13Y in the connectingdirection straddles the contour of the common ink chamber 7 of themanifold plates 13X and 13Y at the most downstream end. In other words,the opening 38 x positioned at one end in the alignment direction ispartially closed by the area of the manifold plates 13X and 13Y formingthe end 7 a of the common ink chamber 7 in the longitudinal direction.Further, in other words, in the opening 38 x positioned at the mostdownstream side, only its part at one side in the alignment directionfaces the most downstream side of the common ink chamber 7.

By this, even in the case where the ink supplied into the common inkchamber 7 reaches the end 7 a of the common ink chamber 7 at the mostdownstream side, it does not stagnate at the end 7 a and is introducedfrom the opening 38 x into the ink supply hole 38 (see a thick arrow ofFIG. 13B). Accordingly, even if air bubbles are mixed into the commonink chamber 7 and are moved to the vicinity of the end of the common inkchamber 7 (the end 7 a at the downstream side), the air bubbles are aptto be smoothly discharged through the opening 38 x positioned at themost downstream side. Accordingly, since the discharge property of airbubbles is improved in the purge operation, it is possible to avoid ablank of a print surface (missing dot) due to non-ejection of ink fromthe nozzle 35 at the time of printing operation.

Incidentally, in this embodiment, although the description has beengiven of the ink-jet head 6 in which the manifold plates (first member)13X and 13Y and the spacer plate (second member) 14 have the thin flatplate shapes, the first member and the second member are not limited tothe flat plate shapes.

Besides, in the embodiment, although all of the openings 38 a, 38 a, ofthe ink supply holes 38 at the side of the common ink chamber 7 have thesame size, the invention is not limited to this. That is, as shown inFIG. 14, an opening 38 x′ of the openings 38 a, 38 a, . . . at the mostdownstream side may have the largest opening area among the openings 38a, 38 a, . . . .

By this, even if a bonding shift slightly occurs at the time when themanifold plates 13X and 13Y and the spacer plate 14 are laminated, theend 7 a of the wall part of the common ink chamber 7 at the mostdownstream side becomes hard to deviate from the opening 38 x′ at themost downstream side. That is, even if a position shift slightly occursbetween the upper manifold plate 13X and the spacer plate 14, the meritof the invention can be certainly exhibited in which the ink flow to theopening 38 x′ at the most downstream side is ensured and the dischargeproperty of air bubbles in the vicinity of the wall part of the end 7 aof the common ink chamber 7 at the most downstream side is improved.

Besides, as shown in FIG. 15, all the openings 38 a, 38 a, . . . may bedisposed to partially overlap with the wall part of the common inkchamber 7. That is, all the openings 38 a, 38 a, . . . may be structuredto be partially closed by an area of the manifold plates 13X and 13Yforming the wall part of the common ink chamber 7. In other words, onlypart of each of all the openings 38 a, 38 a, . . . may face the commonink chamber 7.

By this, stagnation becomes hard to generate at not only the end 7 a atthe most downstream side of the ink flow in the common ink chamber 7,but also the vicinity of the wall part of a portion other than the mostdownstream side. As a result, the discharge property of air bubbles atthe portion other than the portion of the common ink chamber 7 at themost downstream side is also improved, non-ejection due to air bubblesdoes not occur, and the highly reliable ink-jet head can be provided.

Further, as shown in FIG. 16, a plane distance P1 between the opening 38x positioned at the most downstream side of the ink flow in the commonink chamber 7 and the end 7 a of the common ink chamber 7 at the mostdownstream side may be made at least an arrangement pitch P of theopenings 38 a (P1≧P). In this case, in the common ink chamber 7, the end7 a at the most downstream side of the ink flow from the ink supplypassage 39 forms an ink trap part 7 t for collecting the ink, and thelength of the ink trap part 7 t in the alignment direction of theopenings 38 a is the plane distance P1.

In this case, although air bubbles mixed in the common ink chamber 7 areapt to accumulate at the end 7 a (the ink trap part 7 t) of the commonink chamber 7 at the most downstream side, since the plane distance P1between the opening 38 x at the most downstream side and the end 7 a ofthe common ink chamber 7 at the most downstream side is not less thanthe arrangement pitch P of the ink supply holes 38 (not less than thearrangement pitch P of the openings 38 a) and is sufficiently large(P1≧P), the volume of the ink trap part 7 t can be sufficiently ensured.That is, there does not occur such a state that the air bubblesaccumulated at the end 7 a at the most downstream side exceed the volumeof the ink trap part 7 t in a short time and close the opening 38 x atthe most downstream side.

That is, it takes a considerable time before an amount of the airbubbles in the vicinity of the end 7 a of the common ink chamber 7 atthe most downstream side becomes large, and the air bubbles are combinedand grow there to reach the position of the opening 38 x at the mostdownstream side. As a result, even if the frequency of the purgeoperations by the purge mechanism 67 is made low (even if the intervalof the purge operations is made long), the opening 38 x at the mostdownstream side comes to be scarcely closed by the air bubbles.

In the ink trap part 7 t, since a cluster of air bubbles accumulated andcombined to grow into a considerable size is sufficiently large, thesurface tension of the air bubble cluster to keep the stability as aspherical shape is low. Accordingly, in the case where the purgeoperation by the purge mechanism 67 is performed, the air bubble clustercan not resist the suction force of ink from the opening 38 x and thestability of its interface is broken, so that the air bubble clusterbecomes apt to be easily discharged from the opening 38 x through theink supply hole 38.

In the case of FIG. 16, the plane distance P1 between the opening 38 xpositioned at the most downstream side of the ink flow in the common inkchamber 7 and the end 7 a of the common ink chamber 7 at the mostdownstream side has only to be at least the arrangement pitch P of theink supply holes 38. That is, it may be 2 pitches, 3 pitches, 4 pitchesor 5 pitches, or may be 1.3 pitches, 1.5 pitches or the like.

In the examples of FIGS. 13 to 16, the common ink chamber 7 has atapered part 7 b at the downstream side. In the tapered part 7 b, thecross-sectional area of the common ink chamber 7 is reduced toward theend 7 a at the most downstream side. Accordingly, both at the time ofprinting operation and at the time of purge operation by the purgemechanism 67, the flow rate of the ink flow in the common ink chamber 7at the downstream side end (the portion of the tapered part 7 b) isincreased toward the end 7 a at the most downstream side. As a result,it becomes easy to forcibly push out the air bubbles to the opening 38 x(38 x′) at the most downstream side, and also in this meaning, thedischarge property of air bubbles in the common ink chamber 7 isimproved.

Second Embodiment

FIGS. 17 to 19 show an ink-jet head 6′ of a second embodiment. In theink-jet head 6′, its passage unit 10′ has a structure in which fiveflat-plates in total, that is, a nozzle plate 11, two manifold plates13X and 13Y′, a spacer plate 14, and a base plate 15′ are laminated.That is, the damper plate 12 in the first embodiment is omitted. Sincethe structure of the nozzle plate 11, the upper manifold plate 13X, andthe spacer plate 14 are quite equal to the first embodiment, theirdescription will be omitted.

In the lower manifold plate 13Y′, two ink chamber half parts 13 b′ and13 b′ are provided to pass through a plate thickness, not to be concave.The four flat plates, that is, the spacer plate 14, the upper manifoldplate 13X, the lower manifold plate 13Y′, and the nozzle plate 11 arelaminated, so that the ink chamber half part 13 b′ is connected to theink chamber half part 13 a of the upper manifold plate 13X, and thecommon ink chamber 7 is formed as shown in FIG. 19.

As shown in FIG. 18, a plurality of pressure chambers 36, 36, . . . arebored in the base plate 15′ in two rows in a staggered arrangement alongthe longitudinal direction of the base plate 15′. Each of the pressurechambers 36 is formed to have a thin width so that its longitudinaldirection is orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the base plate15′. Besides, as shown in FIGS. 18 and 19, throttle parts 36 d connectedto the pressure chambers 36, and ink introduction holes 36 b connectedto the throttle parts 36 d are concavely provided at the side of thebase plate 15′ facing an actuator 20.

Also in the ink-jet head 6′ of the second embodiment as stated above,the structure as shown in FIGS. 12 to 16 can be similarly applied to theconnection portions between the common ink chamber 7 and the ink supplyholes 38. As a result, the discharge property of air bubbles in thecommon ink chamber 7 is improved, and it is possible to prevent atrouble, such as non-ejection of ink due to air bubbles, from occurring.

In both the first embodiment and the second embodiment, as the actuator20, in addition to one that gives the ejection pressure to the ink inthe pressure chambers 36 by piezoelectricity or electrostrictivedeformation as described above, one that gives the ejection force to theink by using force of static electricity, magnetism, local boiling ofink by heat, or the like can also be used.

While this invention has been described in conjunction with the specificembodiments outlined above, it is evident that many alternatives,modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in theart. Accordingly, the preferred embodiments of the invention as setforth above are intended to be illustrative, not limiting. Variouschanges may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention as defined in the following claims.

1. An ink-jet head comprising: a plurality of nozzles for ejecting ink;a plurality of pressure chambers provided correspondingly to therespective nozzles and connected to the nozzles; a common ink chamberfor distributing and supplying ink to the pressure chambers; a supplypassage for supplying the ink to the common ink chamber; and a pluralityof connection passages provided correspondingly to the respectivepressure chambers, one ends of which are connected to the common inkchamber through a plurality of first openings and the other ends ofwhich are connected to the respective pressure chambers through aplurality of second openings; wherein among the first openings, anopening positioned at a most downstream end in a flowing direction ofthe ink from the supply passage in the common ink chamber is positionedto be spaced apart from an end of the common ink chamber at the mostdownstream side by at least one pitch of alignment intervals of thefirst openings, the plurality of first openings being aligned in astraight line, wherein the ink flows through the common chamber insubstantially only one direction.
 2. An ink-jet head according to claim1, wherein the common ink chamber is extended in an alignment directionof the first openings, and a cross-sectional area of the common inkchamber at a downstream side end in the flowing direction of the inkfrom the supply passage in the common ink chamber is reduced toward themost downstream end.
 3. An ink-jet head according to claim 1, whereinthe common ink chamber is extended in an alignment direction of thefirst openings, and a flow rate of an ink flow from the supply passagein the common ink chamber at a downstream side end is increased towardthe most downstream end.
 4. An ink-jet head comprising: a plurality ofnozzles for ejecting ink; a plurality of pressure chambers providedcorrespondingly to the respective nozzles and connected to the nozzles;a common ink chamber for distributing and supplying ink to the pressurechambers; a supply passage for supplying the ink to the common inkchamber; and a plurality of connection passages provided correspondinglyto the respective pressure chambers, one ends of which are connected tothe common ink chamber through a plurality of first openings and theother ends of which are connected to the respective pressure chambersthrough a plurality of second openings; wherein an ink trap part isformed at a most downstream side in a flowing direction of the ink fromthe supply passage in the common ink chamber, and the ink trap part hasa length of at least one pitch of alignment intervals of the firstopenings, the plurality of first openings being aligned in a straightline, wherein the ink flows through the common chamber in substantiallyonly one direction.
 5. An ink-jet head according to claim 4, wherein thecommon ink chamber is extended in an alignment direction of the firstopenings, and a cross-sectional area of the common ink chamber at adownstream side end in the flowing direction of the ink from the supplypassage in the common ink chamber is reduced toward the most downstreamend.
 6. An ink-jet head according to claim 4, wherein the common inkchamber is extended in an alignment direction of the first openings, anda flow rate of an ink flow from the supply passage in the common inkchamber at a downstream side end is increased toward the most downstreamend.